The Trump administration is planning to hold the nation’s first-ever offshore mineral lease sales as early as this summer.
The Marine Minerals Administration (MMA) “anticipates holding three offshore lease sales during fiscal years 2026 and 2027,” including in waters off American Samoa in August, the Northern Mariana Islands in November, Alaska in December and Virginia in 2027, according to the regulator’s fiscal 2027 budget justification.
The administration is pushing to start deep-sea exploration and mining for mineral-rich nodules in both domestic and international waters. Earlier this month, the Interior Department said it was combining the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement to create MMA, which will oversee the nascent effort to extract minerals from the outer continental shelf.
While no seafloor mining has yet taken place, federal officials have revamped their process to more quickly process and approve permits for mining in response to an executive order President Donald Trump signed last year.
